Latest VLOG uploaded! It's always during editing you realize "oh this part is gonna suck"
or "man I should have done this", but practice makes perfect I suppose, keeping at it.
Def. stay tuned, I'm playing in a tournament hosted by DNEGS tomorrow so that should be good footage if nothing else!

Thanks for letting us in on your adventures !!

good stuff

B

Oh yeah, hopefully you're already sub'd on youtube, but in case you missed I interview Negraenu in my latest VLOG. This was a pretty awesome experience, played at his table for a little while in a charity event he hosted, then we both busted and I was just hanging around and we chatted on and off for a little bit and then afterward I asked if he would come on the VLOG. You may remember I had gotten a picture with him back in LAPC but he didn't remember me from that, no reason to it was super quick.

One sidenote is he's been doing this hand history review of these big cash games that have been going on pokerstars once a week and he reviews it on Twitch, usually I'm there and he's read out my hand analysis a couple times and recognized my screenname when I told him so that was semi cool. Gave me some really good advice and encouragement, said it sounded like I have a solid plan and a passion for the game which was nice to hear from a guy I respect so much and inspired me a lot.

I'm writing from LA now, here likely thru Monday. Mostly just going to grind a lot of cash try and pad the bankroll up some before the summer kicks off. Plus the WPT 500 is here and I'm going to fire a couple events in that. I know those two sentences seem to contradict each other, that's why I sold action on both events.

The first one was a $225 40k bounty tournament that was a really good tournament. Good structure, low rake, ton of rec players didn't see any players who seemed advanced at all, unfortunately just was basically mostly card dead for four hours and lost a flip, getting no bounties. I really enjoy bounty tournaments I tend to find a lot more spots to exploit generally.

The second one will be the $565 million guaranteed on Monday. This has a really great structure with hour long levels, should be really good, sold half the action in it because it will over a 2,000 entry field I'll have to battle through and like I said the point of this trip was to add to the bankroll not brick off $800 in tournaments. Be pretty sick to make a deep run in it though, 250k or so up top would certainly change a few things for me. (says everyone who's ever entered a tournament) That bounty tournament ended up crushing the guarantee with 59k in the prize pool, there's the same tournament on Saturday with a 30k guarantee, I guess it's possible if cash goes amazingly I would fire that on my own dime, but likely not.

I had never been to Hawaiian gardens before, it's a really nice place with what looks like a very nice room as well, enjoyed playing there, will probably check out the cash games as well. I got no footage for the VLOG inside though, 3 security guards came up to me when I had my camera in hand, off not filming, searched my backpack and told me I can film dealers, tables, cage, etc. Checked my ID, they were pleasant enough but cameras seemed to be something they had a pretty strict policy on so I decided to not push my luck and just filmed outside.

So probably once I get back I'll take a hard look at the summer schedule for all the series running and make out a rough schedule or at the least a few tournaments I'll be playing, looking like it will be a lot of dailies and satellites, looking at previous summers it's crazy just how many runners even the daily tournaments get, $230 tournament can have like 30k up top.

So that's my life right now and what you don't see on the VLOG haha, keep on

Random sidenote, why are California chips so different than vegas chips? California chips are super slick, Vegas chips are not. This has never been a problem for me before, just different, but when I try and support my phone using the chips like I do in Vegas the stacks just slide off and fall over. Not sure why they're different, but they are.

Thanks for all your insight. I am doing a similar adventure in Atlantic City, NJ. With Online poker and a few live rooms, it is sustainable here as well. Cash is good but I'm more of a skilled tournament player. Especially online is good for tournaments with lower rake, more hands, better structures, and less risk of ruin. The downside is less per hour online but I personally enjoy putting in more hours online. There is no driving around looking for better games. There is less rake in gas, eating out, and parking fees.

I have a personal hours goal of 200 hours of play per month in whatever format I choose. As I play more, I find myself enjoying more hours and my stamina building. I think you get to a point where you are just "hungry" to succeed and make it work. Again with a large volume of online tournaments, playing your A game isn't always necessary as it become easier to play with shorter stacks. There is no tipping online either to cut into your profits and rake is way lower. Especially right now things have been great with the NJSCOOP on stars. However, with live cash games, "A" game is nearly a must and it can be hard to sustain your hours at an A game level, while also moving around table to table or casino to casino. It sucks to buy in, sit down, find the game is no good, rack up, drive to new casino, wait on a list possibly, do it all over again, etc. Sometimes I would spend 2 hours a day game selecting which is ok sometimes but long term it is a little wasteful IMO. Game selecting is necessary but very time consuming. That is another reason I like dabbling online.

We have Borgata here that brings in good tournament series and we are getting a Hard Rock next summer. I have the expense life roll of about 3-6 months and my bankroll is kind of part of that so I'm not where I want to be financially yet. This first year is bankroll building where I can transition to the live scene more freely and be able to make maximum buy ins with little risk of ruin. I've been doing it for about 9 months.

When you run bad, as you most certainly will, you will run worse than you ever thought possible. Each season of "run bad" I declare that is the worst season yet and I seem to find an even worse season lol! However, this is a great time to learn how to cut back on expenses even more until the wave has passed. Sometimes I would shave every other day instead to save on buying razors more frequently! Lol. Again, when you are HUNGRY you do whatever it takes as for as watching expenses and putting in hours.

I have a personal belief system in God (Jesus) and poker gives me the freedom to do what I most love which is spending ample amount of time with God, family, friends, and church. I remember that poker is just a tool to that freedom and is not what is most important. If I keep that perspective, I learn what sacrifice it takes for my future spouse/kids and to stay in business. Would love to talk more in the future if you would like to receive/give encouragement. Be blessed my friend and keep up the hard work!

They're plastic.

I am thinking of doing something similar for Atlantic City as early as December... would you mind sharing what town you're residing in near AC and what to expect as far as rent/living expenses in the area?

I live in Absecon. The one complex I live in is $1075 with a good amount of amenities. They also say they don't raise the rent a lot yearly. Its about 10 minutes away from the casino but its not a run down area like downtown AC would be. I love the area and Egg Harbor Township is also close and is more suburban (malls, restaurants, etc.) PM if you want to know more specific information. GL!

How is the surrounding area? Safe?

Yeah its ok. My complex has security so there really aren't too many issues. Its really nothing I would worry about. My complex in particular has a 5 star rating across the board.

I really liked your latest vlog. I especially like the drive and walk to the card room (it gives a little bit of "being there" vibe to it) and the commentary afterwards. Thank you for sharing your experience with us non LVers.

Another solid vlog into grinding for a living. Nice rebound in the cash game after the trip to LA to fire on some tournaments. What are your plans for wsop? Mix up tourneys and cash?
Congrats on the special announcement, as it will give you some great exposure and allow you to showcase your skills.

Hey man great thread. Enjoyed the dnegs interview. But seriously be careful with your tipping. Tips will eat into your hourly. That dealer sounded like a horrific cvnt. $10 tip on a $650 pot is HUGE. If that's her attitude she doesn't even deserve to work there, never mind a tip. I don't mean to sound condescending or anything but never tip to appease ever again. You're there to make money not to get everyone to like you. I tip $2 for that size and IDGAF how they react.

Btw, I never understood how vloggers are able to film in there. Don't they tell you're not allowed to film in the rooms?

Yeah so if you haven't seen the latest VLOG I'll put it here. Or you can read spoilers lol.

Had a few decent winning sessions since returning from LA so that's been positive. Cash games have for sure been heating up, stacked a guy in a limped pot paying me off with a worse straight, lot more games and action for sure.

I think Caesars believes I am abusing their parking garage lol. I am parked there all the time really, it's my favorite room and it's a good central location no matter where I want to walk to. It's free parking for 24 hours for Nevada residents and Platinum members and above. I'm both, so works out good. Normally when leaving, the camera scans your license, recognizes it, and the gate opens automatically. When trying to leave yesterday, it didn't. So I scan my driver license barcode, and a balance due pops up. The balance due? Oh just $300. So I call for assistance and talk with an employee asking what is going on. He says I must be an employee and I say no. He asks if my car has been parked there for an extended period of time and I saw no but I am here a lot as I play poker all the time. He says my players card should clear the balance, I insert it and sure enough the gate opens, no problem. That night when I had parked at Caesars again, I had to use my card to get out. As long it opens there's no issue I suppose haha, but $300 for parking was pretty crazy lol.

So plans for the series. Likely going to stick to cash for the most part, but do plan on firing some tournaments for sure. Looking to get in some sit N Gos, sattys, Rio Dailys, etc. Golden nugget and PH have some nice low buy in things. One bracelet event I think I'm playing is the $1k tag team event with 3 of my other friends, that should be fun. Looking to hopefully fire like maybe the $888 or possibly a 1k or the millionaire maker, but it all depends on how the summer is going and I'd be selling action on those so that's also a factor. I had considered putting together a package, but figured since 1 I don't have a lengthy history on Hendon Mob having my first tournament cash this year and 2 just keeping my schedule open and sort of "feeling my way" through my first summer in Vegas.

Side note on daily tournaments, I had said in my VLOG that the rake is so high on them and the turbo structure reduces your skill edge. That's true, and on most tournaments that aren't at Aria, you have until level 6 to play some poker and then it becomes a super short stack tournament. Having played a decent amount of tourneys online, I have the GTO push/fold ranges pretty well locked down, and something I've discovered is when it gets to where people are short people play far too tight and fold way too much. They're just waiting for any ace or PP a lot of times, and they don't realize that when it folds to you on the button with 7 bigs shoving Q9s is a profitable jam. So usually when I do play some of these small dailies and we're down to the final table, I'm the one who is shoving the most and picking up blinds and antes which is so crucial at those stages. It's still high variance obviously but I am profitable so far in tournaments which is something at least. People are absolutely terrible in these things, like plays you see in freerolls online just nothing really makes sense.

This past week I've probably had 6 or 7 people either come up to me or recognize me at the table from my VLOGS, that's pretty cool. Everyone seemed to give really positive feedback which was nice to hear, even a couple of regs who I had seen around for awhile but never spoken to introduced themselves, as well as some dealers. Obviously, at the table, it's best if people see you more as a tourist than a pro player, and this was really one of my biggest hangups about starting a VLOG in the first place because I liked just flying under the radar and not being recognized lol. But even at the table once it comes out about what I do it's been a pretty positive and good atmosphere still. I haven't noticed people playing differently because of it, usually, the people are really interested and want to know more about it, and I'm happy to share at that point so it's been OK. I don't think I'm giving out too much strategic information in my VLOGS or spots that I'm exploitable in, and I will say, I have noticed some VLOGGer's who have, just over a larger sample of videos a similar situation will come up in a hand and their reasoning is pretty exploitative in a couple spots I've seen.

And lastly, I'm a moron and didn't check to make sure I had locked my car I guess, I had walked into PH to grab some breakfast, realized I left my phone, walk back, both doors are open and they're going thru it. I yell and they take off, but I couldn't catch them. Filed a report with security and I'll be able to call tomorrow to see if they got footage of it, and if they turn my phone on I can track it online. Camera and laptop thankfully safe. Phone hasn't been turned on. Not a huge loss, I did lose my everyone loves a chopped pot hoodie from the podcast with Joe Stapelton and James Hartigan and my camera battery charger so that sucks. But could have been worse, phone loss also blows cause it was brand new, but only $115, so not the worst situation but still sucks.

Oh yeah, my sister is getting married in Dallas TX on June 10th, flying was $250, gas round trip in my car was $100, driving it is. Going to leave on Thursday the 8th, stop in Albuquerque where I was actually born and play some poker there, then onto Dallas the next day. Wedding on Saturday, and then probably a marathon drive back home on Sunday unless the games in NM are so amazing that I should stop again. So that's what's going on in my life ATM, cheers guys.

They didn't suck any of your comps off your card for the fake parking bill right?

Yea, I like parking at Bally's or Caesar's as its good central location to walk around.

Nice post. Enjoy the wedding.

Man I should do a better job of updating this, sorry guys. Yeah latest VLOG sort of recapped things, should be coming out with another one today hopefully. Finally got to meet Neeme in person last night at a meetup along with Ryan Frechette and Brad Owen that was pretty cool. I'll update on things to this point or you can wait for the VLOG if you'd rather stay caught up on there. I'll try and post here with some more regularity didn't even realize it had been so long this summer is flying by. Cheers!

Nice man! What meetup did you meet Neeme in?

Awesome stuff, now I want to go back to Vegas again LoL

I would assume it is the one that Neeme posted a vlog for this morning.

Thanks for posting this dude. Looks like you are doing it right and having a great experience. May I ask what have been your top 2 or 3 biggest challenges living the poker life in Vegas? What in your view are your biggest poker strengths? Also, good luck hitting your yearly poker profit goals.

BTW I found this thread today after setting my own goal to move to Vegas by the end of the year- the basic plan right now is to have enough money for a down payment on a $100kish condo there (prices there look really good) before moving, and earn income from a mixture of freelance work and 30ish hours of playing poker/week. Definitely will be following this thread for inspiration.

What do you freelance in? Depending on your field I may be able to give you some guidance pointers they could help you start off with a shorter learning curve/adaption curve

Right now my primary field is law, although I'm working to transition out of it. Once in Vegas I'll keep working remotely for 2 or 3 of my good clients and be really selective about accepting new cases/clients (generated through web traffic and referrals). Also, I own a small but growing web based legal publishing company. Two years ago it made less than $300 total, last year was less than $1,000 total, and this year its making over $1,000/month so far. There's about to be a 2 or 3 month drop off though due to cyclical market conditions but business should pick up in the fourth quarter. I'm also really interested in the Vegas start up scene. Not specifically sure how I could add value to a start up at the moment but I'm staying open to opportunities there too.

Any advice/info/pointers you can give would be appreciated.

Bikeking, sorry for the slight derail. Not trying to hijack your thread!

Beware the cheap condo. A lot are crap. They were converted from crappy apartments during the housing boom. Some have improper paperwork to boot.

No clue about Vegas condos, but in general if I see a cheap condo I'd be worried about potentially high monthly assessments that have driven the value down. This i especially true of older properties.